In the 1980s, volunteers erected hundreds of small cedar nest boxes and revived a Fort Lewis songbird population that had nearly vanished. Now, with Army approval, four conservation groups are trying to piggyback on that success and return Western bluebirds to native oak woodlands on San Juan Island.

On Wednesday morning, biologists used recorded bird songs and chatter to lure two nesting bluebird pairs from Fort Lewis’ prairies into fragile mesh traps.

Then after banding and measuring each bird, the men carefully caged them for transport to Friday Harbor, where it’s hoped they will nest and breed. Gary Slater, the biologist who did the banding, deliberately kept each pair together.

“Holy matrimony and all that,” he joked. “We want them to be happy.”

This is the second year of a five-year relocation effort involving 50 nesting pairs of the brightly colored birds.

Once as common as robins, Western bluebirds are heralds of spring that typically lay their eggs in small holes in trees. While the Fort Lewis population is thriving, the birds have disappeared from much of their historic range, which includes the San Juans.

When people farmed and built homes in the open oak woodlands where bluebirds flourished, they destroyed many of the dead and dying trees where the birds once nested.

“A critical element of their habitat has been lost,” said Slater, research director for Ecostudies Institute, a nonprofit based in Mount Vernon, Skagit County.

The institute has teamed up with the American Bird Conservancy, the San Juan Preservation Trust and the San Juan Audubon Society to sponsor the Western bluebird reintroduction.

Until last year, when the first Fort Lewis transplants arrived, no one had seen a Western bluebird on San Juan Island since 1940, Slater said.

While San Juan Island is the initial focus, the conservation groups also plan to bring back bluebirds to Whidbey Island and Vancouver Island in Canada, he said. The last breeding pair of bluebirds on Vancouver Island was seen in 1992, he said.

“These are all areas where they were historically,” Slater said.

ARMY POST HAPPY TO HELP

Nobody knows precisely how many Western bluebirds inhabit Fort Lewis, but it’s likely several hundred and certainly more than anywhere else in the South Sound, said Jerry Lynch, a Fort Lewis biologist.

Bluebirds typically occupy 60 percent of the 220 nest boxes on Fort Lewis, he said. And last year, Sam Agnew, a Spanaway birder, banded more than 300 baby birds on the post.

Dave Clouse, Fort Lewis fish and wildlife manager, said Army officials are proud of the post’s bluebird renaissance and more than willing to assist Slater and others.

“It’s participating in the regional recovery of the species,” Clouse said.

Without similar cooperation, Fort Lewis would be unable to augment its declining population of Western gray squirrels, as it did last year when seven Okanogan County squirrels were released on the 86,000-acre post.

“It’s a give and take,” said Clouse.

The San Juan project isn’t the first effort to use the Fort Lewis bluebird population to broaden the bird’s range. In Thurston County, Project Bluebird has enlisted volunteers to build and set up dozens of nest boxes in the Deschutes River watershed.

The San Juan project also depends on volunteers. On Wednesday, Slater delivered the caged birds to a private pilot at the Olympia Regional Airport, who flew the captives to Friday Harbor for free. Similarly, private landowners have donated space for the two temporary aviaries where the birds will be housed before biologists let them go.

Slater said the project’s 2007 budget was $30,000, but that doesn’t include the salaries of Fort Lewis personnel and other paid personnel.

NEW LIFE IN THE ISLANDS

Plans for the birds’ release on San Juan Island have been modified since last spring, when three of the pairs flew back to Fort Lewis, Lynch said. In one case, it took less than a week, he said. (One pair stayed on the island and produced three nestlings, Clouse said.)

To encourage the birds to stay and raise young on the island, Slater said they plan to hold the birds until they begin building new nests.

Slater said the Fort Lewis-San Juan project is modeled on his successful work returning Eastern bluebirds to Everglades National Park in Florida. The two types of bluebirds behave similarly, he said.

On Wednesday morning, it took Slater and Lynch only a few minutes to trap a pair of birds.

Fort Lewis biologists had scouted the prairies for pairs that had hooked up around a nesting box but hadn’t settled down.

When they wanted to trap a pair, they used the recorded songs to dupe the bluebirds into believing another pair had intruded. Clouse said that made the birds think: “This is our territory. What are you doing here?”

Initially, the bluebirds perched in the branches of the oak tree above their chosen box. When they swooped down to investigate, they were caught in the fine mesh net.

“This doesn’t hurt them. They just get tangled up,” Clouse said, as he watched the biologists work. “You just have to get them out right away.”

Susan Gordon: 253-597-8756

Western bluebird

Scientific name: Sialia mexicana

Length: 5.5 inches

Seen: Most often in open habitats edged by woodlands

Adult male markings:

 • Bright blue upper parts and throat

 • Brownish patch on back

 • Orange-red breast and sides

 • Gray belly, undertail coverts

Adult female markings:

 • Blue wings and tail, but duller than the male

 • Gray crown and back

 • Eye ring

 • Gray throat

 • Brownish wash to breast and sides

 • Gray belly, undertail coverts

Source: U.S. Geological Survey

More online

For more on the Western bluebirds and San Juan Island, go to www.sjpt.org/mission.php. Click on "Western bluebird reintroduction project."

To learn how to build a bluebird box, go to www.bygpub.com/bluebird.